R. Shep Melnick—the Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. professor of American politics—recently submitted an op-ed to The Heights titled “Our Free Speech Problem.” In his op-ed, Melnick observes the “disturbing” reality that “too many students are afraid to discuss controversial topics, and a significant minority think they are justified in preventing those they disagree with from…
I always wondered why being on a college campus in recovery from an eating disorder is so much harder than being elsewhere, and I think I finally have my “why.” It’s because no one talks about it. I have been much more attuned to my surroundings since being in deep treatment, and the things I…
As Olivia Strong reported in a Heights article last semester, Boston College fared extremely poorly in the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) ranking of free speech on campus—151th out of the 159 colleges included in the survey. Our ranking in this widely disseminated study is embarrassing. Far more disturbing, though, is what the…
The Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect on Sept. 1. This bill prevents abortionists from killing preborn human beings in abortion procedures after fetal cardiac activity is detected using medical technology. The preborn’s heartbeat can be detected around day 21 of his or her development. While similar bills restricting abortion have already been passed in…
We faculty members of Boston College write to request a masking mandate in classrooms. In response to the new known and unknown dangers that we now face from the Delta variant of COVID-19, most peer colleges and universities have classroom mask mandates—from Holy Cross to Harvard, Boston University, and many others. Brookline and Newton K-12…
Following the recent wave of racist incidents on Boston College’s campus and an insufficient administrative response, some BC students have raised a question: “Where are the faculty?” Many BC faculty work individually and in existing groups to challenge racism on campus. A newly formed Faculty for Justice project called Faculty Advancing Racial Equity (FARE) commits…
It is a distinct point of pride in my family that we are as Irish Catholic (and French Canadian!) as our names suggest: McCoy, O’Neil, Fealy, Ouellet. My mother frequently amused us with stories about how her parents attended separate Catholic parishes. Just a few blocks apart, one was Irish, the other was French, and…
As a Boston College nursing school graduate and as a former co-news editor (’65), as well as a fervent supporter of The Heights, I am writing to express my outrage at the leniency of token “sanctions” that the BC administration has given as its response to the students identified as the perpetrators of the racist,…
For sophomores, juniors, and seniors, last week was just another episode in the long Undergraduate Government of Boston College presidential election show. After last Monday’s kick-off event, social media feeds were flooded with campaign follow requests and hotlines to text for more information. In the days since, phones have been bombarded with policy after policy,…
It was a chilly Wednesday morning in February and I was walking up from the Beacon Street Garage as I have done for the past 20 years. It was after 8:30 a.m. and there were a bunch of students walking to their 9 a.m. classes. Most people had hats, masks, and kept their heads down,…
